


Long Night

by magickmoons



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Cop!Dean, Happy Ending, Hostage Situations, M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-05-05 21:05:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14627021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magickmoons/pseuds/magickmoons
Summary: Being involved with a cop, Cas always knew one day he might get The Call.





	Long Night

**Author's Note:**

> crossposted to [my tumblr](http://magickmoons.tumblr.com/post/173835920730/long-night)

Cas looked at the clock and groaned. Late again. He would be so glad when tax season was over. With one hand, he grabbed his phone and opened a call to Dean, while he used the other to hastily shut down his computer. He started speaking as soon as the call connected. "Babe, I know I'm late again. I'm so sorry. It's just a few more weeks. I'll pick up Chinese from that place you like on my way home."

"I'm gonna stop you right there."

Cas froze at the unfamiliar voice. He checked the display to make sure he'd dialed his boyfriend's number. He had.

"Who is this? Where's Dean? Is he all right?"

"Well, that all depends ... " The voice trailed off tauntingly.

"Depends on what? Where's Dean?" Panic was starting to set in, each breath a stabbing pain in his chest. "Is he okay?"

"Cas, baby --" Dean's voice shouted from somewhere in the background. "It's gonna be fi--" There was a dull thudding noise and Dean let out a pained moan and fell silent.

The call disconnected, leaving Cas standing in his office doorway, staring numbly at his useless phone, willing Dean's voice to come back. He pulled in a slow breath, trying not to think of all the nightmare scenarios he had imagined over the past few years. Being involved with a cop, Cas always knew one day he might get The Call. And yes, this was bad, but not as bad as it could be; not the worst -- he'd heard Dean's voice, he was alert and strong. He held onto that fact as he flipped through his contacts for Benny's number.

"Officer Lafitte," Dean's sometime partner answered abruptly.

"Where is he?"

"Cas? That you, buddy?" There was a pause, where Cas could hear the sound of people moving around, speaking. "Dean can't talk right now. I'll have him call you soon."

"I know he can't talk, Benny. I just spoke to whoever has him."

There was a second of heavy silence.

"Well, shit. Cas, it's going to be okay. We're gonna --"

"Where. Is. He?"

"I can't tell you." Beny sounded sincerely apologetic, if distracted.

"Where the fuck is he, Benny?"

"You can't be here, Castiel."

"LIke hell I can't." Cas was gripping his phone so tightly, he was afraid it might crack in his hand.

Benny's voice was heavy. "Cas, it'll be harder for people to make the tough calls if you're here, right in their faces."

A cold wave washed through him. "Are they going to have to make tough calls?" he asked haltingly. Benny's silence was answer enough. "Benny, please, I have to be there if something happens."

He couldn't sit at home and wait for a call, not when he knew something was happening right now. And if the worst did happen... well, he'd rather be there than not -- maybe get a chance to say goodbye, at least one last 'I love you.'

"All right," Benny relented with a sigh. "But you're not driving like this. I'll send Kline to get you."

\------------------------------

The wait for Officer Kline (a barely post-pubescent, overly-energetic patrol officer -- "Call me Jack, Mr. Novak") had been interminable, the trip back worse, even though Jack ran the cruiser with lights and sirens; somewhere in his mind, Cas was pretty sure this situation didn't warrant that, but he'd thank the rookie later.

They parked in the downtown shopping district and walked about a block to the 'scene' -- an innocuous stretch of storefronts, made notable to Cas only by the presence of a '67 Impala on the street; and of course the dozens of officers, patrol cars, and floodlights. Jack wouldn't let him past the perimeter carefully marked with police tape. He radioed to Benny, who raised a hand and nodded at them, but stayed where he was, deep in conversation with Cole Trenton, head of SWAT.

With a shrug, Jack led Cas to where several ambulances were parked, waiting to see if they would be needed.

"Might as well make ourselves comfortable," he said hoisting himself onto a tailgate.

Jack turned out to be quite enamored of Dean -- "the Sarge" -- and was more than happy to ramble on about him with almost no input form Cas, until he said:

"He doesn't really seem to like me that much."

Cas wrenched his eyes away from the activity to see Jack looking kind of dismayed. "It takes Dean a while to warm up to people," Cas said wryly, thinking of their own disastrous first meeting.

"Hazard of the job, I guess," Jack mused.

Cas shrugged noncommittally. The job sure didn't help, but Jack didn't need to know all the shit Dean had gone through before he'd ever enrolled in the Academy.

His eyes searched Benny out again, and he tensed when he found him in an unmistakable argument with Trenton.

"Are there other hostages?"

"Well, I'm not really allowed to tell you any specifics," Jack replied, nodding once, definitively.

"I understand."

Just out of the line of sight of the jewelry store that seemed to be at the center of everything, Cas could see Trenton's men gearing up. They would be cautious with one of their own in there, he knew, but he also knew when SWAT went in, things could get messy. Dean had always said Cole Trenton was too eager to throw his men into the fray. And Dean would surely do everything he could to protect the civilians inside with him; he'd throw himself on a bomb to save an innocent life.

Cas felt sick. He thought of all the times he had listened to Dean recount his day in sanitized summaries that still gave Castiel nightmares, but this -- this waiting, helpless, while it all played out in real time -- this was agonizing.

"Why was Dean sent in on his own?"

Jack shrugged. "He wasn't. Far as I know, he wasn't even on duty. Don't know the whole story, but he just was there, I guess, texted Benny when he saw something going down."

The SWAT officers were arranging themselves. Cas could see the worried expression on Benny's face. He clenched his fists, bit his tongue, trying not to interfere. 

Benny glared at Trenton, who raised his radio defiantly. There was an expectant tension in the air when the front door of the shop suddenly opened. Every gun went up. Cas jumped to his feet Jack smoothly moving to stand between Cas and the scene.

For a long second, nothing happened. Everyone's eyes were glued to the dark doorway. Cas couldn't breathe.

Then Dean's voice rang out across the empty space. "Hold your fire! Hostages coming out. Hold your fire."

After a hurried conversation with Benny, Cole spoke into his radio and everyone settled into a slightly less aggressive posture. Benny's voice echoed through a portable amp.

"Well, come on out, then."

A few seconds later, a young couple came scurrying out of the store, followed by an older woman, then a middle-aged man. They were all ushered quickly over to the ambulances, where the EMTS started checking them over, an officer standing by each of them.

Cas strained to hear what they were saying. 

".... so brave. He saved us."

"--didn't even know he was an officer at first--"

" -- thought he was just crazy, man."

"-- like a movie--"

Dean's voice shouted through the door again. "Okay, we're coming out now. Armed officer following subject, subdued and unarmed. I repeat, the subject is unarmed. Hold your fire!"

Again he waited for Benny's verification before proceeding. Cas shifted so that he was standing next to Jack, straining to see Dean.

First through was a sullen-looking man, probably around Dean's age, walking slowly, his hands raised above his head. Dean followed behind him, gun held steady until they were in full view of the other officers. He said something and the other man stopped and knelt with his hands behind his head. Dean holstered his gun with a visible sigh as other officers approached, covering the scene. Even from this distance, Cas could see the blood and bruising on Dean's face, the careful way he held himself, speaking to possible further injuries.

Cas started toward him, but Jack held him back with a tight grip on his arm.

"Sorry, Mr. Novak, not until we've got the scene secured."

Officers were approaching, lifting the suspect and leading him to a squad car. As soon as they closed the door behind him, Cas shook out of Jack's hold and ran forward.

"Dean!" he shouted.

Dean whipped around, shocked. "Cas, baby. What are you doing here?"

Cas wrapped his arms around Dean, held him tightly. "I couldn't stay away. Just wanted to be near you." Dean let out a shaky breath as his arms circled Cas's waist.

"Excuse me, Sgt. Winchester. I need to get your statement," came a deep voice approaching from behind Cas.

"Aw, cut 'em a break, Henricksen. You gotta have a heart in there somewhere." Benny appeared, clapped a hand on Dean's shoulder. "Good to see you in one piece, brother."

"Five minutes." Henricksen stepped to the side a few paces, looking like he was mentally counting the seconds.

"Victor Henriksen. He's I.A.," Dean clarified for Cas. "Wants to know what I was doing here."

"What  _ were _ you doing here, Dean?"

He shifted uneasily, winced, then shrugged.

"Uh, this was not how I planned on doing this," he muttered. He pulled a small box out of his pocket and opened it. Cas's eyes widened at the ring shining against a dark velvet lining. "After the last few hours I can't even imagine why you would consider it, but ... you wanna get married?"

Words failed him. Marriage .... They had talked about it -- casually, he had thought -- but he knew how much it meant to Dean: marriage, family, commitment. He looked up at Dean, who was simultaneously looking hopeful, embarrassed, and resigned.

Why wouldn't he consider it? Official or not, Dean was it for him; he'd known that for a while now. He wouldn't have been any more -- or less -- worried with a ring on his finger. He touched the ring reverently, a tangible symbol of what Dean  had to fight for, to come home to each night.

He nodded, still unable to speak past the emotion, then pulled Dean tightly to him and kissed him, dimly aware of cheers and catcalls around them as the kiss quickly turned from sweet to desperate and needy.

They broke apart to the sound of a throat clearing. Henricksen gaved them a curt nod. "Just drop by my office tomorrow, Winchester. For now, get checked out by the EMTS and get out of here."

"See, he's not that bad!" Dean yelled over to Benny, who rolled his eyes. "Henricksen, you are definitely invited to the next poker night!"

Henricksen shook his head, bemused, and walked away. Around them, people moved around them, documenting the scene, and offering brief congratulations as they passed.

Dean took Cas's hand and gently slipped the ring onto his finger. He chuckled. "Well, I think this proposal story is definitely going to be the winner at all those boring business dinners you keep dragging me to."

Cas huffed a nervous laugh. "After today, I'm not convinced I'm letting you out the door ever again."

Dean's face fell. "Cas, man, I ..."

He leaned in to kiss Dean gently, then tilted his forehead to rest against Dean's. He sighed. "No, I know. I didn't mean it. Just ... joking, venting." He looked back at the civilians by the ambulances; at the criminal in the squad car, apprehended without a shot fired; at Jack Kline with his hero worship and Benny Lafitte who claimed to owe his life to Dean on more than one occasion. He looked back to Dean, who was biting his lip nervously.

"Dean, what you do is so important. And you're good at it. Very good." He swallowed around the adrenaline pinging through his system with no focus anymore. "I could never take you away from this."

Dean's eyes glistened briefly before he shook it off, clearing his throat. "What do you say I get cleared by the EMTs, then I take you home and remind you how important you are to me?"

Cas nodded fervently, threading his fingers tightly through Dean's as they walked through the organized chaos. 

A day might come that didn't end as well as this one, but the unaccustomed pressure of the ring beneath Dean's grasp reminded him that today had ended well, that they had a future to plan together ... and that Dean's emotional control was kind of on its last legs. Cas barely grabbed his arm in time to keep him from swinging a fist at Cole Trenton as they neared the SWAT commander, silently fuming in the shadows.

"Oh, come on, Cas. Just one punch. The guy was gonna breach, even without imminent threat to the hostages. Coulda gotten us all killed."

Cas stared at Dean and shook his head slowly. "With I.A. right over there, Dean? No. We are celebrating our engagement at home tonight, not in a holding cell."

Dean rolled his eyes, but calmed down enough to just glare daggers at Trenton. As they approached the waiting medic, Dean squeezed Cas's hand. "See what a good fiance I am?"

"The best, babe. You're the best."

Dean threw him his best cocky grin. Cas let himself rest against the side of the ambulance while the medic examined his fiance, waiting patiently until they could  _ finally  _ head home.


End file.
